


Bar Fights

by seasalticecream32



Series: Punk!Merlin AUs [3]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: And it's painted in a very negative light, But it's not a lot, I swear, M/M, Sexist Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 17:17:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4928329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasalticecream32/pseuds/seasalticecream32
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompts: “If you die, I’m going to kill you.” + Accidentally knocked you out when you got caught in the middle of a fight between me and this other person. So now I’m sitting with you in the Doctor’s office. Merthur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bar Fights

**Author's Note:**

> For letshadows-die on tumblr. Thank you for the prompt, lovely! Sorry it took so long. :D
> 
> If you want to follow me and make requests or just chat, my tumblr is captainmerlin32. :D

Merlin really, really didn’t want to get into a fight in Gwaine’s new bar. The seats were still squeaky new and the countertop was shining and unchipped. People were hanging about for the ambiance and getting the feel for it. A fight could make the whole reputation of the place go to pieces. Plus, if he got in a fight now, he’d likely not be here when Arthur showed up, and he wasn’t sure Arthur would forgive him for dragging him away from work and then bailing on him.

But even Gwaine was staring at this guy like he wanted to throttle him. The man was loud and rude and he couldn’t seem to figure out where his hands were and weren’t allowed to touch. The waitress who served the table behind him had the worst fake smile Merlin had ever seen and somehow the man still managed to think she was hitting on him.

If it hadn’t have been for him turning his attentions on Freya, Merlin might have been able to handle it. But Freya had been a shy girl when they’d met, and she’d only slid further into her shell after high school. He’d asked her out as a friend, to be around his two favorite buddies from school. Now she was getting hit on by a slimeball who wouldn’t listen to her stammering attempts to get away.

“Hey there.” Merlin slung an arm around Freya and sidled closer to her. “I don’t think she’s interested.”

“What’re you, her handler?” The man snorted and waved down for another drink.

Except Gwaine looked about ready to punch the man himself, and when he walked over it was without a drink. “Look mate, you’ve been here mouthing off for hours. I think its best you leave before you find yourself in any trouble.”

“Who’s gonna kick me outta here? You?” The man snarled, fist banging on the table.

Gwaine smirked, tilting back his head to flip his hair away from his face. “You know mate, I reckon I am.”

“How’ya going to do that? You can’t do that! I’ma payin’ customer,” the man was red-faced and hollering, and Merlin could see the effects of one to many whiskey sours purpling his thick neck. “I’m can say what I please. Besides, she didn’t mind no how, did you?”

Merlin’s face burned. He could feel the grind of his teeth as he tried to reign in his anger. Freya stuttered out a response, but Merlin didn’t hear it. She’d been through enough, she didn’t need a creep at a bar making things bad for her again.

“I don’t rightly care what you think you can do, sir, you’re being asked to pay your bill and leave.” Gwaine braced his hands against the counter and leaned over. “And I’d prefer it if you did it quietly so as to not disturb the other guests.”

Merlin grinned, even through the anger pulsing in his temple. Gwaine’s stance was one he’d employed a few times on Merlin’s behalf, before Merlin had learned to stand up for himself. It accentuated all his muscles and really brought attention to the menacing gleam in his eye. More than once, when Merlin had been a little over half in love with Gwaine, he’d gone star struck at the power of it.

The man still grumbled when he handed out the wad of crumpled up bills and slapped them on the counter.

Maybe, it could have all been over from there. Maybe it could have all been quickly dealt with and the man could have moved on and Merlin could have just enjoyed his evening with his boyfriend (whenever Arthur deigned to show up, that is) and his best friends.

But the man had happened to stand and grip Freya’s shoulder, too tight judging by the expression on her face. He’d leaned in, mock-whispering, “Hey now baby, how about you meet me in the back once you dump this sack of bones here? Get some real meat in those hips of yours?”

Freya had squeaked and shook her head, but Merlin had gone still as stone. It took a full minute for his mind to process the full extent of grossness that the man had exhibited. Gwaine was still counting his money and, presumably, hadn’t heard the exchange, but Merlin hadn’t been so lucky as to have missed it.

“The bastard short-changed me,” Gwaine grumbled, before turning to see Merlin shaking with anger. “Well, are you going to go fight him or just stand there looking scandalized?”

“Oh, Merlin, you really shouldn’t, I mean,” Freya’s hands rubbed against her arms, and she squeaked when he turned to look at her. “I mean, I’m fine.”

“Freya, he’s been itching to fight the guy all night. I promise you, dear, you’re just the icing on the cake.” Gwaine leaned back and grinned. “He’s been afraid I’ll get upset at him, but I’ve never had a good reputation before, don’t see why I should start now.”

“You sure? Someone could call the cops on us?”

“Nah, you won’t fight him if he doesn’t fight back, and no one here will believe you started it anyway. None of them know you like I do.” Gwaine shrugged. “You’re going to explode if you don’t go confront him.”

“Yeah, yeah, enough with the encouragement.” Merlin grinned and shook his head. “You’re such an enabler.”

“Yes, but I’m _your_ enabler, buddy. Forever and always.” Gwaine held out his arms in a big hugging gesture. “Now go beat up a little shithead, mate. Just try not to get my alley dirty.”

“I’m going to try talking to him, you know. The plan is _not_ get in any trouble.”

“Arthur’s not here yet, love. You don’t have your side of charm to keep you out of it,” Freya said, but the color had returned to her face and she was shaking her head. “Promise me you’re not going to punch the guy in the face.”

“I promise.” Merlin nodded, and was at least fairly certain he could keep it as he sauntered off to the back, sure the man would be waiting to see if Frey a would show up.

***

To be fair, he hadn’t punched the man in the face.

He had punched _someone_ in the face, but that had been an accident

He’d been trying to punch the man in the nose, had reared back and given it all his strength, and then he’d seen a flash of blond, heard the admonishing tone he was all too familiar with, and his fist had connected with a beautifully hawkish nose.

The other man had run off pretty quickly, the ass. He hadn’t even offered to help with Arthur.

Luckily, Arthur had only been knocked out very briefly. Merlin would have been even more worried if he’d been out for more than a few seconds.

“So, Prat, what were you hollering before I knocked you out?” Merlin poked at Arthur’s face to see if it hurt.

He was guessing yes, since Arthur’s hands immediately swung to cover the rapidly swelling bridge of his nose. “Something along the lines of _Don’t be stupid, Merlin._ ” Arthur’s voice was more nasally than it usually was, which probably wasn’t a good sign.

“Well, let’s get to the doctor then, get that looked at.” Merlin held out his hand for Arthur to stand up, but Arthur only glared at him and struggled up on his own. “Sorry for punching you in the face and possibly breaking your nose.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, my nose isn’t broken.” Arthur had his hands cupped around his face, garbling his already nasally speech.

“Mind if I poke it some more then? Just to be sure?” Merlin grinned wider when he saw Arthur glare at him over the tips of his fingers.

“Fine, let’s go to the doctor then.” Arthur grumbled, and Merlin almost didn’t catch it.

“Look, hold on a second.” Merlin stopped, moving in close to Arthur and cupping his hands to Arthur's face. “Let me see. I promise not to touch it.”

A couple of people were making aggravated scowls at him and one even said “get a room” as they passed, but Merlin didn’t care. He’d dealt with worse. Eventually, Arthur moved his hands and Merlin could see that it was swollen and red, bits in the middle turning a purplish-black color. He hissed and ran his thumbs over Arthur’s cheeks, frowning when even that made Arthur flinch. He leaned in and pressed a kiss, chaste and sweet, on Arthur’s lips, careful to keep from bumping Arthur’s nose.

"I really am sorry I punched you in the nose. It was an accident.”

“You shouldn’t have been fighting, anyway. What did the guy do?” Arthur covered up his nose again as more people started to gape at them. He glowered at the lot of them, but they kept staring.

“He was hitting on Freya and being an overall jackass. He told Freya to, and I quote, _‘Ditch the sack of bones and get some real meat in those hips’._ Or at least, that’s the gist of it.”

“Wow, yeah, I’d have hit him too.” Arthur scowled, then winced as the movement jostled his nose. “But really? Freya? The poor girl’s been through enough.”

“That’s what I thought!” Merlin shook his head. “So, what do you want to do after the doctor’s office?”

“Merlin, it’s almost eight.” Arthur shook his head. “Where are we going to get into a doctor’s office at this hour?”

Merlin shrugged. “Fine, we’ll get some bandages and then we’ll get ice cream and we’ll do the doctor thing tomorrow. Just let me text Gwaine.”

Arthur shook his head. “Nah, let’s go back to the bar. Gwaine’ll throw a big baby fit if you skip out entirely.”

“Hey, he’s probably just glad I didn’t get arrested this time.” Merlin bit his lip and tried to force a chuckle.

“We’ve pretty much accepted that you’re always in trouble with the law, Merlin. We’ve decided to look past it and love you anyway.” Arthur reached to take one of Merlin’s hands and Merlin smiled at the gesture.

It was a bit gross, because there was nose-blood on Arthur’s palm, but it was gross-sweet.

“So, when I go sit with you at the doctor’s office, can we bring coloring books?” Merlin was a smidgen glad that at least this time it wouldn’t be him waiting to get treated.

“Yeah, which ones you want this time? Dinosaur or sea animals?” Arthur grinned.

“You know, I’m really feeling dinosaurs, but that might change tomorrow.”

“At least all the doctors know you by name. They’ll probably give me a prize or something for breaking the chain.”

Merlin and Arthur snickered, and re-entered the bar to a slightly confused Gwaine and Freya rolling her eyes.

“He walked right into it, I swear!” Merlin held up his hands in a defense. Freya only threw an old roll at him and Gwaine laughed.

“Didn’t think you’d suddenly turn on Arthur on us. What’re you having boys? Water? Milk?” Gwaine winked at them and hurried off to grab their glasses. “So, how much do you want to bet the nose is broken? I’m starting the pool with 20 on it being crooked for the rest of your life.”

***

Arthur was pale and wide eyed in the doctor’s office. It was an odd sight to see, since he’d taken Merlin several times before. Merlin held his hand and tried to think of something witty to say to calm Arthur’s nerves, but the sound of the hospital, silent but somehow still droning with an undercurrent of aggravating noise, drove out all his best snark. He finally settled on just asking. “So, why are you all pale faced and scared looking? If you die on me, I’m going to kill you. I mean, it was a complete accident.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “I hate going to the doctor.”

Merlin had colored three stegosauruses and a walrus before they’d gotten them back to a room. He’d tried to offer Arthur some coloring pages, but he’d only shook his head and gazed off at the corner at nothing in particular, looking slightly terrified of everything. That was the first time he’d said anything since they arrived.

“You’ve been to the doctor’s office plenty of times with me, what’s the problem?” Merlin frowned, running his thumb over Arthur’s knuckles and bringing his hand up to kiss the back of Arthur’s hand. “Are you just nervous? It’s probably broken, but I don’t think broken noses are usually a big deal.”

“I used to have to come to the doctor’s a lot when I was a kid. I don’t mind taking you.” Arthur squirmed. “It’s different when I’m the one that has to be poked and prodded at.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be here the whole time.”

“Not going to fight the doctors if they tell you to leave the room are you?” Arthur tilted his head at him, but he was grinning. Still pale around the lips, a bit, but the conversation seemed to have helped things.

“You know me, I’ll put up my dukes.” Merlin slung his fists up. Arthur pretended to cower, feigning terror.

Which was how the doctor’s found them.

It was difficult to explain.


End file.
